ASPRO HEIR GIVEN 15 YEARS' JAIL FOR HEROIN TRAFFICKING

The 58-year-old grandson of one of the founders of the Aspro pharmaceutical
empire was jailed yesterday for 15 years on drug trafficking charges
involving more than $12 million of heroin.

David Michael Nicholas, whose grandfather pioneered Aspro pain relievers,
was motivated by "greed, pure and simple", Judge Graeme Crossley said in
the County Court.

"It seems to me there can be no motive for your involvement in these crimes
other than a simple desire for a lot of easy money," the judge said. "All
the tragedy, loss and suffering that goes with the vile trade of heroin
sale and use was worth, in your mind, the personal financial gain that you
hoped for and expected.

"You played for very high stakes. You played those stakes and lost."

Judge Crossley told the court that on 24September 1994 Nicholas was driving
a man referred to as Mr Lu, who had received heroin in a bag from an
undercover policeman. The pair were arrested in Lonsdale Street by federal
police.

The heroin, which was imported into Australia and seized by police, was
undergoing a "controlled delivery" so police could find out who was to
receive it, the court was told.

"This was very much a joint enterprise and you were very significantly
involved," Judge Crossley said.

The judge described Nicholas as a "principal offender" who "fully
appreciated the criminality of your conduct". The businessman was "well
aware of the potentially disastrous consequences for the users and retail
purchasers of the deadly product you sought to possess ... you knew
precisely what you were doing".

Nicholas, formerly of Malvern, and who was jailed in 1990 on $2.2million
fraud charges, showed no emotion when the judge read out the sentence.

The former Melbourne Grammar student who set up Kentucky Fried Chicken and
Pizza Hut in Australia was impeccably dressed in a suit.

In a statement issued later on his behalf by a public relations firm,
Nicholas maintained his innocence, saying: "I was simply a person in the
wrong place, at the wrong time."

The statement described the conduct of the Australian Federal Police as
"clandestine and outrageous ... dubious, questionable and ultimately
improper".

It said his wife of 35 years, Margaret, and their three children had
suffered "intolerably".

"For decades I have warned of the evils that drugs can wreak on individuals
and society at large," he wrote.

Nicholas' solicitor, Mr Paul Galbally, said an appeal against the
conviction would begin in the Supreme Court immediately.

The court was told that federal police and Thai authorities conducted the
controlled delivery of the heroin, which weighed 8.4kilograms gross -
6.5kilograms pure - worth $12.5million and divided into 24 blocks.

The judge said Nicholas was a good family man who, if not for his age and
poor health, would have received a stiffer term.

Nicholas was found guilty by a jury in November after a seven-week trial.
He had pleaded not guilty to one count of possessing a traffickable
quantity of heroin and one count of attempting to obtain possession of a
commercial quantity of heroin.

Judge Crossley yesterday sentenced him to 15 years jail, with a minimum
term of 10.